Pokimane And The Stalker

Pokimane is Twitch’s most popular female broadcaster, but being an internet celebrity has its pitfalls, as she explained to Anthony Padilla in an interview.

Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys is one of Twitch’s most popular female streamers… and one of just two women in the top 20 most watched broadcasters. The streamer just surpassed 9 million followers on the platform and continues to expand following her renewal with Twitch earlier this year, where she now has an exclusive streaming arrangement. However, streaming live to tens of thousands of viewers every day can result in a few rabid fans. These fans may form parasocial ties with influencers who are unaware of their existence.

Pokimane has been through this before. She told Anthony Padilla about one terrifying incident in which a stalker discovered her home location and flew to California simply to see her. 

She recalled; “There was a guy who showed up to our neighborhood and was just walking around looking for us. He came across my roommate, and he was like, ‘Oh, I know you. You need to take me to Poki. We’re meant to be. I came down here for her.’”

Poki’s roommate fortunately alerted her to the situation, and she was able to lock all of her doors. Despite this, she stayed up all night streaming in case something bad happened to her. “I was like, if this guy finds me, and tries to do something scary, at least I’ll be streaming, so people will see what happens.” 

Pokimane also revealed that she refuses to own a home for fear of her address being leaked, preferring instead to go from lease to lease if she needs to relocate quickly. Due to the number of times her phone number has been leaked, she now has three phone numbers, which has resulted in some really frightening messages being sent to her. 

She said; “I’ve received so many scary texts. If someone finds your number and they’re like, ‘We’re gonna send someone out to SA you, to do this, to do that. I’m gonna find your family.’”

Pokimane is far from the only female streamer who has faced with a stalker; Amouranth, Sweet Anita, BrookeAB, and others have been vocal about abuse and threats directed at their families for some time, asking for reform across numerous platforms.